The Hero Complex

“Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

 What makes you want to read a particular novel? What dramatic elements make you want to watch a certain film? Naturally there are several different answers to these questions. Perhaps you wish to see a film because you like a particular genre such as a gangster or rom-com or because your favourite director is making the film. Some people will read a novel by their favourite author even if it is completely different in narrative form and genre from the writer’s previous work. Others still are influenced in their choice by the setting or plot of a piece of work.

What currently draws me to a film or novel is the protagonist of the piece. Perhaps it is the level of superhero films that currently bombard the movie screens, or maybe it is something else entirely, either way I find myself constantly considering the idea of the hero in works of fiction. I have a particular interest in American literature and film, however I now find myself increasingly drawn to British and Irish literature and their portrayals of the hero.  Increasingly I believe that it can be argued that the portrayal of a hero depends greatly on the country in which he exists. This may seem simplistic and trivial but I believe the representation of the hero accurately reflects the psyche of his country of origin. Let us take James Joyce’s great work of modernist literature Ulysses. The novel is set over the course of one and mainly consists of Leopold Bloom’s train of thought as he wanders through Dublin city. Although this may be considered to be a stereotype to some, I think the novel perfectly captures the essence of a hero in Ireland. It is a romantic notion, the idea of a man wandering around a city to no true particular end or purpose. He is heroic in his ordinariness, which perhaps can best describe Ireland.

Of course this contrasts brilliantly with the hero in British fiction. When you ask someone on the street to name the greatest hero in British fiction, the majority would probably answer with James Bond or Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps you may find those of a younger age who would say Harry Potter. These characters perfectly capture the British mindset. They share positive masculine qualities and for the most part are inspiring characters. Even their negative qualities are slightly positive! James Bond is too much of a womaniser and Sherlock Holmes is too clever! Harry Potter’s fatal flaw is that he loves too much! These are characters that any reader would aspire to be like. This confidence in their heroes reveals much about Britain. There is a sense that Britain is comfortable with her status and sees herself in a heroic light on the international stage.

This brings us to America; a country that I believe has a very complex idea of the hero. Personally I believe that The Great Gatsby is the greatest American novel of the twentieth century. Although the novel is a fantastic commentary on the Jazz Age, for me personally it is the character of Jay Gatsby that makes the novel a fantastic piece of literature. Gatsby is a fascinating character and a man who has completely re invented himself. In the early stages of the novel he is a mysterious shadowy figure, which adds to his character. When he is revealed in the novel, he is seen to be a man of good nature in a world gone wrong. The Jazz Age is portrayed as a vacuous and hollow world, where only Gatsby (and Nick) display any positive characteristics such as Gatsby’s loyalty and love for Daisy. By possessing these qualities, Gatsby ultimately dies. Gatsby is seen as a tragic figure in the novel. Some interpretations of the novel even analyse Gatsby as a Christ-like figure who sacrifices himself for Daisy. Although I think that this particular reading may be extreme I do see Gatsby as a tragic hero. America I believe needs her heroes to be flawed as this is how the country sees itself, flawed but ultimately heroic. Like all endearing heroes, Gatsby is not perfect and this is what makes him a perfect example of an American hero.

Thanks for reading!

Collective Memory in the Vietnam War films

The idea of America’s collective imagination has recently become a topic of interest to me due to my upcoming thesis. Over the last few weeks I have been reading several articles on America’s collective memory with regard to the Vietnam War and what I have found has really been of use to my thesis. It seems to me that America is a country that is unable to cope with the wrongs of her past and who must then use film as a healing mechanism to rewrite the past.

Maurice Halbwachs defined collective memory as “a current of continuous thought whose continuity is not at all artificial, for it retains from the past only what still lives or is capable of living in the consciousness of groups keeping the memory alive”. Essentially memory shapes a nation’s identity. Traumatic events such as wars have a massive influence on shaping national memory. The collective memory of a country can be examined through representational forms in the media such as television, film and literature. Collective memory can also be represented through school texts and memorials. Collective memory generally tends towards healing and the reconciliation of the country to a trauma of the country’s past.

The Vietnam War was one of the most traumatic events in the history of the United States. In comparison to the World Wars, the Vietnam War left a bitter scar on the United States collective memory. It was seen as the most difficult war that America had ever fought and the United States’ only loss in combat. Perhaps even more importantly, Vietnam was seen as the period in the American narrative where things had gone wrong and that America had lost her way as a country. The deafening silence on the war throughout the 1970’s seemed to reiterate this sentiment. It was the medium of film that ended this silence in the late 1970’s with the release of films such as The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now. It was film, more so than any other media outlet, which was best equipped to tackle the issue of the Vietnam War and therefore film would have a heavy influence on US collective memory. Cinematic devices such as having a coherent narrative and an orthodox framework helped inflict an impact on the US collective memory. Film also offered closure to its audience. The popularity of cinema as a media output helped the Vietnam War films reach a wider and new cinema going audience.

How then has the Vietnam War been redefined due the impact of film on US collective memory? It has been redefined presenting America as a victim. By focusing on themes such as victimisation, loss of innocence, dehumanisation and betrayal by the bureaucracy, the films attempt to absolve America from blame concerning the war. America as a victim mourns the loss “ of the war, of their national innocence and the lives of their sons and daughters.”(Rowe and Berg, 2) America is depicted to be the sole victim, neglecting the other countries that were also victimised. As a country the U.S is “obsessed with the trauma and injury it has suffered, as if the United States, not Vietnam Kampuchea were the country to suffer the bombings, the napalm air strikes, the search and destroy missions.” (Rowe and Berg, 2) The Vietnam films tended to ignore the suffering that the Vietnamese underwent. Yes the audience sees long distance shots of a Vietnamese village burning down. Yet these shots do not intend to help the audience empathise with Vietnamese rather they are used “for production value in the war scenes to make them more authentic.”(Kinder, 14) It is clear that “the main characters and the director aren’t interested in their misery.” (Kinder, 14) It can be argued that America’s loss of innocence is seen as the biggest casualty of the Vietnam War in the Vietnam films. However America is now seen not to be guilty of losing its innocence, rather America was robbed of it. America lost its innocence not due to her own failings but rather she was forced to forced to due to the bitter environment of the Vietnam jungle. The films suggest that America went to Vietnam not to commit atrocities, however the environment there caused them to commit terrible acts against their will, “the ‘stock shot’ of this period is a family of Vietnamese villagers ‘mistakenly’ killed by U.S troops or ‘murdered’ by the Vietcong”. (Rowe, 6) The films suggest, ”if we did some bad things over there we did them ruthlessly but impersonally.” (Chong, 92) In comparison the Vietnamese are represented as “ruthlessly vicious in their treatment of the American and South Vietnamese soldiers.” The Vietnam War has also come to be defined as a betrayal by the bureaucracy on the American people. Films such as the Rambo series have influenced this. The war becomes defined as a “merely a ‘mistake’ of a government that had exceeded the controls of its people.”  (Chong, 91) The films show “a post-Watergate distrust of government.” (Doherty, 53) It becomes clear that “’government’ is an entity never to be confused with ‘country.” (Doherty, 53) The films redefine the Vietnam War as a war caused by the government and lost by the government. This idea is neatly presented to us in Rambo First Blood: Part Two when soldier Rambo asks his superior Trautman “Sir, do we get to win this time.” The politicians become the enemy, it is suggested that there is nothing wrong with America essentially, but that its government betrayed its people. Therefore we can establish that the Vietnam films have redefined the war by placing America as the victim, robbed of its innocence by a scheming and corrupt government and the brutal soldiers of the North Vietnamese. This is of course America simply rewriting the past to cope with her past mistakes and I hope to determine whether this characteristic of denial will continue?

Works cited

Chong, Sylvia Shin Huey. “Restaging the War: “The Deer Hunter” and the Primal Scene of Violence.” University of Texas Presson behalf of the society for cinema and media 44.2 (2005): 89-106. JSTOR.

Doherty, Thomas. “Rambo First Blood:Part Two.” Film Quaterly by University of California Press 39. 3 (1986): 50-54. JSTOR

Kinder, Marsha. “Political Game.” Film Quarterly by University of California Press 32. 4, (1979): 13-17. JSTOR.

Rowe, John Carlos and Berg, Rick. “The Vietnam War and American Culture”. Columbia: U of Columbia. 1986. Print.